Go to Purchases, then Expenses, and click New Expense. Fill in the expense date, the amount, the expense account (which determines which P&L line it appears on), the payment method (bank transfer, cash, or credit card), and the vendor name (optional, but useful for reporting). If the expense includes GST and the vendor is GST-registered, enter the GSTIN and the GST amount to capture ITC. Attach a photo or PDF of the receipt, which is stored against the expense record for audit trail purposes.
Expenses in Zoho Books can be marked as billable if they are to be charged to a customer (for example, travel costs for a client project). Link the expense to the relevant project. When you next bill the project, Zoho Books includes the expense as a line item on the invoice, with the option to mark it up. This ensures all costs incurred for a client are recovered on the invoice without manual tracking.
Employees who incur business expenses on their personal accounts submit expense reports in Zoho Books (via Zoho Expense, which integrates with Zoho Books) or directly in Zoho Books’s Expense module. The expense is recorded in Zoho Books’s books when approved, with the payment method set to the employee’s name (a temporary liability account). When the employee is reimbursed, the payment is recorded and the liability is cleared.
An expense in Zoho Books is a direct cost record for business payments made without the bill approval workflow, such as travel costs, team meals, or credit card charges. It posts to an expense account and deducts from the payment account.
Go to Purchases, then Expenses, click New Expense. Select the expense account, vendor, amount, payment method, date, and GST rate. Attach a receipt. Save to post the accounting entry.
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